Learning to sail in the Solent

Gosport, Cowes, Southampton, Portsmouth, 16/11/24—01/12/24

I had not noticed when Brad had turned off the engine, instead heard him say ‘Now, we’re sailing’, felt us moving, looked at the boats and the land passing, and had the feeling I had learned something fundamental with the weight of history inside it, we were people in a boat designed by those who had failed in the water then succeeded with sails cut just so, and here was the wind moving us in a sea that surrounded us. ‘Now we’re sailing’.

The water we were on had seen the last invasion of a foreign army in England, hundreds of French soldiers had landed on the Isle of Wight in 1545 after fighting the English in the Battle of the Solent from 18 to 21 July 1545. Henry VIII had declared war on France two years earlier and taken Boulogne, the French retaliated on 19 July in 1545 with reports of around 200 ships and 30,000 soldiers. Britannica shows the King was in Portsmouth that morning inspecting the fleet and the French were sighted, Henry's favourite ship, the Mary Rose, was lost in the ensuing fight killing hundreds of her crew. The French later came ashore and were fought off by local militias. England did not have a standing army. The population of the Isle was around 9,000, fewer than the French but had experience and were reinforced well during the fighting. The French lost in the sea and on land. Sir John Oglander, an English politician, described their departure,

“We killed many, took many prisoners and drove the rest down as far as the ships, killing all the way.”

History was being written by the winners, research in The Naval Miscellany shows Oglander was a committed royalist and a Victorian editor described Sir John's writing as ‘often erroneous, and disproved by modern research’. The year after the battle, in 1546, Henry VIII, formed the Royal Navy.

The Royal Yachting Association’s Competent Crew (CC) course Brad ran for the Army Sailing Association is where I started sailing. My military service had allowed me to join. It was a joint course with those wanting to qualify as Day Skippers (DS). Their course was difficult but with modest entry requirements: 5 days of sea time with 4 night hours and 100 nautical miles (NM) which we nearly achieved over the five days. I could not see how a few extra nautical miles would have me ready. That it would take my being on the helm and the bow for those 100NM, a participant not a passenger, I wanted to sail over the year in hard conditions, at night, alone, navigate more before attempting it. Our course ended with 79NM, 6 night hours and 5 days on the sea, another 21NM would not do.

Logbook:

It was the day before I turned 46, I wanted only to wake on a boat and smile in secret but after we went ashore in Cowes I'd mentioned it to Tim, a former Royal Artillery officer. In the morning, Brad led the crew loudly in singing Happy Birthday—which never seems to get old. We had eggs for breakfast. It might have been my age and theirs but as I got well into my forties most days I would think about my parents and how much they had done for me. I was born in The Hague in The Netherlands on 17 November in 1978 and my parents came to the UK on a ferry with four children. My dad had lived here before, in 1961, when the British asked the Pakistanis to come and work. I told myself to call them later that day. Brad’s seventeen year old son was an excellent sailor, I felt lucky for him to have a dad like Brad, wondered what adventures his life would see. My parents had taught me to work hard by doing so themselves, in the factories and shops. I’d let them down by failing at university the first time, I had never lost, however, their love and support and felt grateful for it. I wondered if my nieces and nephews would like to try sailing. What would their lives be like if they did?

Another day we made our way to Ocean Village Marina in Southampton which the crew did not enjoy, it was expensive and had poor ablutions. Cowes had felt a good old place to walk around and find a warm inn but not here. Instead of the loud bars consolation came from the wine on board and sharing stories over a wooden table as the water gently rocked us. We left early in the morning and planned to end up in Port Solent Marina in Portsmouth before which there was a long night exercise in the cold and the wet testing the other students in navigation using landmarks.

On the final day we left Port Solent for Gosport and again practiced man overboard drills, Brad never missed an opportunity to teach. Over the days we'd learned about anchoring, the weather, looked to the top of the mast for the wind, turned the boat, practiced what to do if people went overboard and made coffee as the boat heeled. The Army was happy to sail into a cold December, and on this last day we’d had a strong wind warning, the rain was relentless and we dressed in full waterproofs. I’d brought some used for hill walking but the ones for sailing had high front panels that came up to near your nose, the Army had lent me a set. Back onshore, I planned the next set of courses. The students recommended the DS theory course for a structured syllabus and then the practical assessment.

The contents of my kit bag had changed. I'd tried making a pillow with a down jacket which was okay but a travel pillow on the second weekend helped me sleep better earning its place, along with a large travel towel for the marina showers and gloves and wool layers, sitting outside as the boat moved along was chilling and staying warm and dry meant staying motivated. I’d bought cheap sailing boots which felt insecure and wanted to invest in laced ones but needed to earn more to justify the cost. Tim told me fishing gear was the same but cheaper.

After the course and our goodbyes, I shouldered my bag and walked back to the Gosport Ferry, had my paper ticket clipped, and after the short passage across to Portsmouth Harbour boarded a train to London. The Solent was only a couple of hours away. I'd enjoyed being with soldiers again, the early mornings, the hard days, the late nights, earning our dinners. I knew I'd return.

Until the next time thank you for reading and please share this post with friends,

Adnan
Rewley House Library, Oxford, 2025

Adnan Sarwar is a philosophy student at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He won The Bodley Head/Financial Times essay prize, edited for The Economist and is an Iraq war veteran of the British Army.

References

Adams, S. Battle of the Solent, [Online] Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Solent, Accessed 1 April 2025

Knighton CS, Fontana D, Loades D. (2024) More Documents for the Last Campaign of the Mary Rose. In: Vale B, ed. The Naval Miscellany. Navy Records Society Publications. Boydell & Brewer; :49-84. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/naval-miscellany/more-documents-for-the-last-campaign-of-the-mary-rose/7EF9C4BB1A17B45E8E8EC4F85AEFC9ED , Accessed 1 April 2025